7 Things Sales Teams Must Stop Doing Right Away
“Insanity is doing exactly the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results…” Well, actually Albert Einstein never said anything like that, though it continues to get misattributed to him as frequently as always.
However, it perfectly illustrates how some salespeople keep using ancient, outdated, and actually counterproductive methods in the hope of enhancing their sales productivity, without even realizing how suicidal it is…
So here is a laundry list of 7 odd things such salespeople must stop doing right away:
Ignoring Technology-Driven Sales Tools
- Predictive analytics, data mining, and other sales lead generation tools have changed the way sales operations are executed.
- The Internet, LinkedIn, company databases and so many other tools are used to research potential client companies.
- Predictive analytics packages instantly analyze billions of potential combinations that historically led to sales success or sales failure. Each lead is then scored and the sales model output—which means the factors behind the score—is delivered to sales teams on a screen. That also comes with a list of the top 5 to 10 attributes worth mentioning to a potential company as a reason to make a well-informed precision targeted sales call to its representative.
- In fact, such technology included in supply chain finance solutions like Veefin has automated most aspects of the sales process. Hence, doing things the old way is unlikely to be efficient.
Overselling Without Knowing When To Stop
- Often, salespersons merrily continue plying prospects with additional product information even after the prospect has already agreed to go ahead to buy the product.
- This often leads to losing the deal altogether.
- Sales is an art that is as much about knowing when to talk, and when to stop talking.
Pitching To Precisely All The Wrong-est People
- No matter how brilliant a sales pitch may be, pitching to the wrong person is unlikely for the conversation to lead to closure.
- Sales teams must be trained to correctly assess the roles of people they approach from a potential client company. Those being approached could be influencers, decision-makers, or followers. If they are followers, there is simply no point pitching to them because they are not decision-makers of a potential client company.
- Therefore, sales teams must be trained to focus on precisely identifying decision-makers at potential client companies and focus on getting them to like your product.
Sounding Like The Ultimate Smooth, Glib Sales Talk Artiste
- Gone are those days when Armani suits and smooth, glib sales talk closed deals.
- The modern customer is knowledgeable and intelligent. Rather than being persuaded by mere words, they prefer to evaluate the evidence for themselves.
- Client testimonials, product demos, and cold calculations of potential cost reductions close deals today than any sales talk.
Replaying Those Same Old, Tired, Boring, Predictable Sales Pitches
- There is nothing new about sales efforts and everybody is used to sales pitches that have become predictable. Like it or not, today’s reality is that people have become extremely cynical about sales pitches.
- Rather than training sales teams to pitch from well-written scripts, it is essential to teach them to ask the right questions.
- It has to be understood that unless sales teams learn to actually empathize with prospective customers’ problems and seem willing to build a pitch that provides solutions to overcome ongoing challenges.
Being Deal Oriented
- Prospects no longer look for salespeople who simply talk about a product, sell them one, and then are never seen again. Prospects can easily buy any product online today with e-commerce websites detailing every little aspect of the product, rather than any salesperson's pitch. Today, sales teams are expected to be active long-term collaborative, and support partners of customers.
- Today, prospects are looking for people with whom they can partner to build solutions together in response to the varying challenges they face day-to-day. To meet such expectations, salespeople have to go beyond simply maintaining a purely one-time transactional relationship.
- It is no longer about just a one-time deal, but all about engaging potential clients proactively.
Seeming Far Too Desperate To Achieve Sales Targets Anyhow
- Quite often than not, salespeople who are presumed to be problem solvers for prospective customers change their role to solution seekers. They start discussing how they are falling short on their targets and expect prospects to close the deal out of sympathy.
- This kind of strategy backfires for both the salesperson and the organization the salesperson represents as prospects may grow distrustful of the salesperson and the company's brand will also suffer in the long run.
- Today, with innovative CRM solutions such as Veefin CRM, enterprises can eliminate administrative tasks of selling entirely by automating processes from lead management to conversion. Such automation helps sales teams to focus on selling and enhances productivity significantly.
- Connect with us to learn more about how we can help improve your sales productivity.
